Aborted landing at KCI not newsworthy?

One of the most-read stories Wednesday — about an aborted landing of a Southwest Airlines plane at Kansas City International Airport — was also one of the most criticized. Should it have been written at all?

Southwest has more flights at KCI than any other airlilne.
The Kansas City Star

at Kansas City International Airport has been very popular on KansasCity.com. It ran on Page A5 of the print edition.

Though passengers were scared during the incident, the story doesn’t recount any injuries. One of the two sources cited was a designer who works for The Star.

The readers contacting me about it criticized The Star heavily, saying the incident didn’t merit coverage because, even though it was undeniably scary.

“I worked in the building at 10 Richards Road for 27 great years and about 11 years at KCI,” emailed one. “I saw many, many aborts and none of them seemed to generate such publicity. Are you people trying to generate some more fear of flying?” he asked.

Others criticized using a Star staffer as a source. “I almost got in an accident the other day, but there wasn't a reporter in the car at the time,” snarked one (funny) commenter on the online version. It’s a fair knock.